Helium

by Rudy Francisco

On days like this, I am the house and the ghost, responsible for my own haunting. My brain is a revolver with “Am I good enough?” in every chamber. So I turn into a factory that only makes the word “yes” and I say it until it can easily be mistaken for the truth, but my voice shakes and the answer still sounds like a question.

I have a fistful of afternoon, and I am asking the summer if it will always be this glorious. I remember taking a deep breath. Trying to get as much July into my lungs as humanly possible and thinking maybe I’d be able to convince it that 31 days just isn’t enough.

Mercy after Nikki Giovanni She asks me to kill the spider. Instead, I get the most peaceful weapons I can find. I take a cup and a napkin. I catch the spider, put it outside and allow it to walk away. If I am ever caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, just being alive and not bothering anyone, I hope I am greeted with the same kind of mercy.